ACE Production Maintenance Window: Sept 12-13, 2026
Key Points
- CBP has scheduled ACE Production Standard Invasive Maintenance from 10:00 p.m. ET Saturday, September 12, 2026 to 4:00 a.m. ET Sunday, September 13, 2026 (a six-hour window).
- The maintenance is classified as "invasive," meaning ACE Production services may be fully unavailable during all or part of the window.
- Filers should avoid scheduling electronic entry submissions, entry summaries, or other ACE transactions that cannot tolerate a delay during those hours.
- The official notice is CSMS #69813698, published September 9, 2026.
On this page
- What CBP announced
- What "invasive maintenance" means for filers
- Affected timeframe and scope
- What importers, brokers, and compliance teams should do
- Key references
CBP will take ACE Production offline for standard invasive maintenance beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 12, 2026, and expects to restore service by 4:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, September 13, 2026. Any electronic filing that depends on ACE Production, including entry submissions, entry summary transmissions, and manifest filings, should be completed before the window opens or queued for after the window closes.
The links in this article go to the primary documents: the CBP CSMS notice itself. Read the source before taking any operational action.
What CBP announced
CBP issued CSMS #69813698 on September 9, 2026, notifying the trade community of a planned ACE Production Standard Invasive Maintenance event. The notice was distributed through the Cargo Systems Messaging Service, CBP's standard channel for ACE operational alerts.
What "invasive maintenance" means for filers
CBP distinguishes between standard maintenance (typically low-risk, brief interruptions) and invasive maintenance, which involves deeper system-level changes and carries a higher likelihood of service interruption across ACE Production. During an invasive window, core ACE functions, including the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), the Document Image System (DIS), and entry-summary processing, may be unavailable without advance notice of partial restoration. Filers should treat the entire six-hour span as a potential blackout.
Affected timeframe and scope
The maintenance window runs from 10:00 p.m. ET Saturday, September 12, 2026 to 4:00 a.m. ET Sunday, September 13, 2026. CBP's notice does not specify which ACE subsystems will be affected, so the safest assumption is that all ACE Production services are at risk during this period.
What importers, brokers, and compliance teams should do
- Submit or finalize any time-sensitive entries, entry summaries, or electronic export filings before 10:00 p.m. ET on September 12 to avoid transmission failures.
- Alert internal operations and IT teams so that any automated ACE integrations or scheduled batch transmissions are paused or rescheduled around the window.
- Monitor CBP's CSMS feed for any updates or extensions to the maintenance window before and after the event.
- Document any filing delays caused by the outage in the event a protest or penalty response requires evidence of a CBP-caused system interruption.
Key references
- CSMS #69813698: CBP official notice of ACE Production Standard Invasive Maintenance, September 9, 2026.
- CBP Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS): landing page for all ACE operational alerts and trade notices.
Recovering IEEPA tariff refunds? Get started with CustomsGenius to streamline your refund process.